Marry Me?
by Forbiddensoul562
Summary: When six year old Mello notices the sad new kid, Near, across the room from him, he suddenly decides to try and help him, and perhaps get something even more out of it in the end. One-shot. MxN. Please R&R.


A/N: I got the idea for this when I was heading home today, and I thought about that future story that I want to do, 'A Series of Firsts'. I started thinking about it, and just like that it all just flowed from my head –the way the ideas used to when I was younger. So, I was so happy about that that I decided to just use this for it's own one-shot. Besides, it's too cute to pass up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of the characters used in this story.

Title: Marry Me?

The day was bright, and unusually warm for the late fall season in England. Most of the children at Wammy's were out playing in the falling leaves that were raked up into piles. But there were some that were inside, favoring playing indoors instead.

Little Mello was one of them.

He sat at one side of the common room with his best friend, Matt, who was the same age as he was. But Mello couldn't focus on the cars that were in front of them. Every time he tried, his blue eyes kept looking up to the other side of the room –where the only other child there was sitting.

He was the new kid, and odd looking at that. He was as pale as a sheet of paper, and with a long button down shirt on that was just as white, some white shorts and too-big socks of the same shade. He had curly white hair, too, which his little fingers would occasionally come up to twirl. Mello thought his name was like… Next, or something. It started with an N, he knew.

But it wasn't any of that which held Mello's attention. It was his look.

The kid had endless grey eyes that always seemed to stare at absolutely nothing. He'd only been here for a few days now, but Mello couldn't remember him talking. Not one single word. The kid looked like he might be three. He was very small. And those dark eyes never seemed to run dry of tears.

So long as Mello had seen him, he was always crying. And always clutching on to this little robot toy of his.

In all of Mello's six years of life, he'd never seen a kid be quite so sad. Well… except maybe himself, when his mother had died and left him alone in the world. But besides that, never.

He turned back to Matt, who was driving a red muscle toy car across the wood floor. Matt was a nice kid, who didn't talk to many other people but Mello. He always wore the same striped shirts, and had a pair of orange goggles that he always wore, too. But they were too big for him to wear over his eyes, so he wore them around his neck, instead. He was a little bit weird… but Mello didn't care.

"Hey Matt, you see that kid over there?" He asked in a hushed voice, as if afraid that if he spoke too loudly, the new kid would hear him.

Matt looked up, first at Mello with his green eyes, then over at the other boy in the room. "Yeah, I see 'em, why?" He asked.

"I woner why he's always so sad." Mello said, flicking his own blue car across the floor. "Doesn he like bein here?"

Matt shrugged, "I unno." He looked down again, as his own way of saying to end the conversation where it was.

But it wasn't so easy for Mello to do. Try as he might, he couldn't stop his eyes from moving to the sad little boy on the other side of the room that he knew absolutely nothing about. He wanted to know more, and what's more, he wanted to try and make him not so sad anymore.

Finally, he couldn't take it any longer and he stood up, turning and starting over to the other side of the room. He heard Matt calling after him, but he didn't listen.

Once he reached the other side, he sat down next to the pale boy, who's glassy eyes never moved from the floor. Mello was surprised there wasn't a puddle on the ground from how much the boy had been crying.

"Hey." Mello said quietly.

The white-haired kid looked over at him quietly, taking in the way Mello looked, and then looked down at the ground again. Mello huffed, "What's yow name?" He asked, trying hard to get him to talk.

It was a long minute before the kid finally answered, in a small, broken voice. "Nate…" He said.

Mello's brow scrunched together, "Nate? Is that the name they gave you?"

The boy, Nate, shook his head. "I'm Nate…" He said again, starting to cry, as if any other name would steal away his identity. Or that it was something he was holding onto for dear life. Mello understood this well.

Mello daringly reached over and placed a hand on Nate's shoulder, "No, you haveta use the name they gave you. Dats who you are, now. It can't be dat bad of a name, what is it?" He asked with a small smile.

The other sniffled a bit before he answered, "Near."

"Near…" Mello repeated. "Well I'm Mello. We can be friends, okay? Is dat why yow so sad? 'Cause you don have any friens yet? How old are you?" He suddenly wanted to know.

Near looked at him with those big, glassy grey eyes and didn't speak for a long minute. "I'm five." He answered, but then looked away again. "My Mama din wan me…" He sniffled again, rubbing away a tear as it rolled down his cheek with the back of his sleeve. "I don have neone now…"

Mello's look fell when he heard that. So, it wasn't that his parents had been taken unwillingly from him, but had freely _given_ him up. He didn't know what to say about that. He could understand, though, that Near was lonely.

Suddenly, he got an idea.

"Hey!" He said as his grand grin suddenly plastered itself on his beaming face. "I have an idea! Les get married!"

Near looked over at him, surprised. "Wha?" He asked quietly.

Mello's smile only increased, "Les get married! Dat's what big people do when dey don wanna be lonely, right? My Mom an Dad were married before!" It sounded like the perfect idea.

Near blinked, obviously surprised, "I don know how to be mawwied." Near said quietly.

But this was already good, since Mello hadn't seen any more tears falling down his already flushed face. If he could do this, then maybe he could make Near happy.

"I do!" Mello said with joy, standing up –Near's dark eyes following him. "All we need is a pries to marry us." He explained.

Near looked confused, "A pries?"

"Yeah!" He looked around the room, his eyes instantly falling on Matt, who he'd abandoned and yet was playing with his toy cars like he had been before. Normally, this might annoy Mello, but right now he was too happy about getting to be married.

"Matt can!" He said, going over to his best friend after saying it. "Matt I'm gonna get married."

The said redhead looked up, "Married? To the new kid? Why?" He asked, his green eyes flicking from Mello to Near –who was still watching Mello in confusion.

"Because he's lonely, an we can't just let him be lonely! So we're gonna get married. You haveta be the pries." He said, grabbing Matt before he could agree or disagree and hauling him up, and over to where they'd been.

"This is Matt." Mello introduced. "He's my best friend, but for righ now he can be our pries." Mello then took Near's arms and stood him up as well, which made the boy tense up –his small fingers beginning to twirl his hair again.

"But I don know how to be a pries!" Matt objected, his eyes wide.

Mello moved to stand next to Near, a huge smile on his face. "You just have… to marry us!" He said, glaring a bit at Matt for not knowing these things.

Matt looked at each of them for a couple moments before he finally asked, "Uhm… Mello, do you wanna be married to Near?"

Mello nodded, "I do!"

The redhead looked then to Near, "Near, do you wanna be married to Mello?"

Near was the one who paused and had to look over at Mello quickly. "I… I do." He said with a nod of his own, then looking back at Matt.

Matt nodded with a smile, "Then… I guess you're married no-."

"Wait!" Mello suddenly cut in. "We can't be married yet."

Near's dark eyes looked questioningly at him, "Why naw?"

"We need rings." He told him, "When people get married, dey give each other rings, like as gifs. I guess to promise naw to be lonely no mow." He looked around. "But… I dunno where to get you a ring."

Matt suddenly began digging in his pocket, "Here. I got this taday from da store." He pulled out a small plastic container that had two, blue, plastic rings in it. "You can use em." He said, handing them over after taking them out of the container.

Mello nodded, "Thanks, Matt." He handed one to Near, "Put it on your left hand. Dats your married hand." He told him. Near nodded and did as told, slipping it on one of the small fingers on his left hand.

"There." Matt said with a smile. "Now you're married!"

Mello smiled as well and turned to Near, "Now I gotta kiss you."

Near blinked, "Why?" He asked; his eyes large and full of confusion.

"'Cause, it's jus another promise to not be lonely." He said. "But no kisses on the lips. Those're only for Mommy's to do." He gave a small, sick look –the way little boys did at the mention of girls, and kisses and what not.

Near nodded. "Okay." He waited, and didn't move.

Mello was quick about it, kissing Near lightly on his warm cheek before pulling back –a prominent blush on his own cheeks now. "Dere! Now we're officlly married!" His eyes were only on Near. "Now you don't haveta be lonely nemore, cause you have me."

Near nodded, and this time, when he did, he gave a smile –the first one Mello had seen since he'd seen Near at Wammy's. With that, he knew, he'd made Near happy. Not only that, but he knew that neither of them would have to be lonely anymore.

Even if they didn't have their parents anymore; they would still have each other.

The End

A/N: So, this was my little cute idea, and I hope you liked it! I know that the artist on DeviantART, Hangdok, has a comic pertaining to Mello and Near getting married as kids, but that's not where I got the idea, and honestly I think it was different. I guess.... I liked how cute this was, but the only thing I _didn't_ like, was that, to me, it seemed like Mello rushed things. I don't know... that's just how the words and the ideas came out of me. I imagined him excited, and forcing everyone into it, basically. Lol! Anyway, let me know what you think, please!

Please review!  
_-Forbiddensoul562_


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